Notice of Work Party 18th January 2018

We meet again this coming Thursday 18th January 2018 and we have to expect that the Fernery will be a bit cold and a bit grey as it was when these photos were taken last week. The ground underfoot is currently very heavy.

The plan will be to continue the work left off last November, limited as it might be by the ground conditions as we find them.

Excavation

We will continue the work left off last November when we began to uncover more brickwork at the North end of the dell. As was planned, by exposing more supporting walls and brickwork we hope to be able to predict more accurately what the structures would have looked like, and discover more hidden paths and steps.

Garden Maintenance

Leaf Blowing

If it is not too wet then we must have another go at lifting more autumn leaves and loading them into our fairly crude composting box. As the garden develops we will need all the leaf compost we can get.

Weeding

We also need to keep a close watch on nettles which are threatening to get going once again. We are advised that if we intend to develop a quality garden, as we do, then we have to weed, i.e. dig-out, these nettles, and persevere at the task year by year. To remove the nettles in the planting beds by chemical means will only delay the inevitable re-generation of the roots, and we cannot allow that to happen.

Garden Design and Development

The draft agreement reached with the Borough Council last November is currently in the process of being approved, and we hope that this will be ‘on the table’ soon. Out of that agreement, and as a matter of some urgency now, the Borough have to produce a Planting List, and broad guidelines/directions in regard to the areas of the Fernery which are to be developed in the first instance.

The Council is budgeting to purchase some 600 trees and plants in April 2018 which will determine our work patterns over next few months, in terms of developing a Garden Design , and then preparing the planting beds in readiness.

Snowdrops

If you look carefully you will see snowdrops beginning to show; out of the 1000 planted, there are about six showing at the moment. But, as with the spring daffodils which we planted in 2016, we knew at the outset that excavation and soil movements as we developed the site during 2016/17 would inevitably cause some of our early bulb planting efforts to come to grief!

Meeting Place

We will meet at 10 am at The Fernery on Thursday 18th January. The leaders will expect to be on site from 9.30 onwards to get the tools ready, so if you are an ‘early bird’ and can help, you will be welcomed.

For newcomers, the Fernery can be found at the top end of North Ride on the Danesbury Estate, AL6 9RD. For more details please go to ‘Where We Are‘ tab at the top of the page.

We look forward to seeing you all to start yet another momentous year in the recovery and restorarion of the Danesbury Victorian Fernery and Garden.